CPI(ML) Liberation has written to the Bihar Assembly Speaker and the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar demanding the immediate termination of the membership of BJP MLA Raju Kumar Singh from the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The letters were sent by email on October 16, raising serious constitutional and legal questions over the delay in disqualifying the Sahebganj MLA, despite more than three months having passed since his conviction and sentencing.
CPI(ML) Liberation Bihar State Secretary Kunal said that Raju Kumar Singh, elected from Sahebganj Assembly constituency (No. 98), was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on July 4, 2026, in a murder and Arms Act case. The Delhi High Court has also refused to stay his sentence. Yet, despite more than three months having elapsed, his membership of the Bihar Legislative Assembly has not been terminated, nor has the Sahebganj Assembly seat been declared vacant.
Kunal pointed out that Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, provides for disqualification upon conviction and sentencing to imprisonment for two years or more. The continued delay in acting against the BJP MLA raises serious questions about the implementation of the law and the functioning of constitutional institutions.
He cited the case of CPI(ML) Liberation MLA Manoj Manzil, elected from the reserved Agiaon Assembly constituency, whose membership was terminated immediately after he was convicted in a case on February 12, 2024. A by-election to the Agiaon constituency was subsequently held alongside the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kunal stressed that the law must be applied uniformly to legislators from both the ruling party and the opposition. Different procedures in comparable legal circumstances raise questions about the impartiality of the Assembly, constitutional propriety and the credibility of democratic institutions. CPI(ML) Liberation has demanded the immediate termination of Raju Kumar Singh’s Assembly membership and the declaration of the Sahebganj seat as vacant.
